TWO innings of culture and substance by Ed Smith, who made 88, and Ed Joyce, 60, steered Middlesex to the safety of a draw against their oldest rivals. For a while, on Friday and yesterday morning, they looked as if they might lose.

The pitches at Lord’s are often too bland for batsmen of this calibre to be bowled out twice in time to bring about a positive result. In the absence of Andrew Strauss, Joyce and Smith have the responsibility of carrying the Middlesex batting. On paper, at any rate, they are their two foremost cricketers.

They came together after Ben Hutton was well taken low down at second slip by Ali Brown off James Ormond and Owais Shah was surprised by the extra bounce extracted from the pitch by Dominic Thornely.

Indeed, the Australian all-rounder, who was making his Championship debut, was as unknown to his new Surrey teammates as he was to Middlesex. On Friday Thornely made 81 and now lolloped up to the wicket to bowl deceptively quickly. Shah could do no more than look to protect himself and was taken by Jon Batty off a glove.

That was 73 for two, which meant Middlesex had a lead of just 50. Ormond was gaining some movement off the seam and Smith was fortunate to edge past his leg stump and in leaving alone a ball that jagged back within a couple of inches of his off stump.

Smith’s top score for his new county hitherto this season had been his innings of 60 in this match. He had struggled to rekindle the form that led to his selection for England two summers ago. A sensitive person, he was markedly affected, perhaps scarred, by the dressing-room fallout that resulted in his leaving Kent last year.

Technically, he continues to strike the ball through the off side with his bat away from his body, but at this level that does not impair his game. There were 10 fours in a half-century made from 65 balls and only Joyce looked a more complete player.

Nothing illustrated better the clear impression that the Irishman is an England batsman in the making than two sumptuous cover-driven fours.

Joyce qualifies for England at the start of July and John Emburey, the Middlesex coach, reckons he is ready to play Test cricket. There is something relaxed and elegant about the way he bats which gives the impression that he is a latter-day David Gower, but such comparisons are unfair.

Fortunately, Joyce is sufficiently relaxed and intelligent to be able to cope with them. It is a question of whether he or Alastair Cook, the Essex opener, is given a chance first.

Smith was eventually held by Batty off Thornely, having faced 139 balls and struck 14 fours. Jamie Dalrymple, who deserves to play on other occasions than when Strauss is with England, was out cheaply for a change, and Joyce was ultimately beaten by Harbhajan Singh’s arm ball, but Middlesex had enough runs in the bank by then.

At tea, they had reached 253 for five, with scant time remaining for a declaration even if they had been so inclined. The intensity, and indeed the status of matches between Middlesex and Surrey, is not what it was, as reflected by a pitiful last-day crowd. To think that 50 years ago there would have been a full house for this fixture at Lord’s and The Oval.

Middlesex (437 & 353-6d) drew with Surrey (460)